Change, Chance & Confusion
by MrsKBlack
Summary: Mia Wright likes her life: she has friends, a little brother and she's at Hogwarts. In her sixth year, however, som of the best and worst moments of her life emerge and they all seem to pertain to one individual. Sirius Black.
1. Hogwarts Again

Chapter 1:- Hogwarts Again

Mia mumbled a good-bye to her parents on the platform, barely stopping to give them a hug, and climbed aboard the scarlet steam train that was belching steam onto the crowded platform. She wasn't sad to be leaving them at all, she'd barely seen them all summer and in reality Hogwarts was more home that's where her friends were. Waving a vague hand in their direction she started to make her way down the train, avoiding the hyperactive first-years already in their robes, and breathed a sigh of relief when she eventually found the Gryffindor 6th year girls chatting in a compartment together.

'Alright Mia?' Mary ventured turning her head away from Bella as she saw Mia's long blonde hair enter the compartment and tossed her bag into the overhead rack.

Mia nodded and gave a curt smile as she made her way to the window looking out onto the platform and let her blue eyes search the platform trying to find what she was looking for. She soon found it, the blur of the back of her parents' heads disappearing back into the muggle world through the barrier not even stopping to see she was off safe.

'That must be a record' Mia chuckled sitting in the vacant window seat next to Lily not a hint of sadness laced in her voice

Everyone else laughed, except Lily, 'They do care you know?' she speculated, Mia thought, somewhat hopefully, Lily had always found Mia's detachment from her parents alien as she had maintained a close relationship with her's.

'Funny way of showing it' Mia huffed slumping lower in the chair 'They stayed for what, thirty seconds this time? Ernie's a genius, ran off as soon as he saw someone who looked vaguely okay. He's first-year and they didn't stay!'

'They'll be busy though, won't they? With Voldemort around and everything', Lily's voice was quiet and soft and Mia knew she was trying to comfort her but it didn't stop the swell of frustration at her words, nothing could excuse their lengthy absences from her childhood.

Mia elected to ignore the comment. To Mia if her parents held a real interest in her and Ernie OR their education then their jobs as an Auror (her dad) or working in the Department of Magical Law Enforcement (her mum) wouldn't stop them from hanging around for an extra ten minutes to say goodbye. Mia's rants about her parents' lack of interest in what she got up to or her herself was now commonplace to the beginning of their journey back to Hogwarts, and Mia had grown to care less and less and was now barely affected at all when her parents left.

As the train started chugging away from the station a red stream of light shot past the window and down the carriage. Nothing better than a duel in the corridor, it was good to be back.

'Reckon that's Potter and Black?' Bella asked motioning her head towards the disturbance as casually as possible stroking a stray brown hair out of her pretty blue eyes as she did so

'Probably' Mia said shrugging my shoulders 'shouldn't you be doing your prefect duty Lils?' Mia asked shooting a glance towards her and smirking towards Mary, Mia was pretty sure she was on her train of thought as she usually was with these matters

'God you're probably right' Lily jumped up, already in her robes, and hurried towards the door straightening them as she did so

'You're awfully eager considering that James is the one creating the disturbance' Mary said mockingly holding a hand to her heart as the other girls giggled

'Hilarious' lily shot scathingly as she blew out of the carriage

'Nice casual mention of them their Bella' Mary chuckled kicking her shoes off 'Still holding out hope that Potter will go off Lily sometime soon?'

'Think I left it a bit late, she's starting to actually talk to him. I would go for Sirius but, though being undeniably good-looking, I just can't get over the childish pranks'

'And you could for Potter?' Mia asked questioningly raising an eyebrow

'Oh shut up' Bella was now blushing a profuse colour of red 'He was different'

Again Mia raised her eyebrows but they sat and contemplated this for a second and started to nod in agreement, although all four of the Gryffindor boys had a hand in the pranks which they arranged everyone in the school knew Sirius and James were effectively the brains behind the operation. The two were the best-looking boys in the school, and knew it since they regularly had girls throwing themselves at them. However, since James had been pining over Lily since the first Hogwarts journey the interest in him had dwindled slightly whereas interest in Sirius had only multiplied which only seemed to inflate his ego.

Mia broke the silence making a sour face and saying 'I'm not sure I'd want to choose either'

Mary and Bella laughed and nodded in agreement and they all gradual changed into their black robes.

'Anyways I should probably go check Ernie's okay, he asked me to just in case someone tried to hex him' Mia rolled her eyes and heaved herself out of the compartment grabbing her wand as she did so. Mia had been hoping that having a younger brother wouldn't be a drag but this had instantly disappeared since she'd made Ernie the promise.

Mia reached the compartment Ernie was in within five minutes and it immediately transpired she was interrupting a blossoming new friendship when her face was treated with evils and mouthed instructions to "bugger off". Mia almost blurted out that Ernie was almost in tears last night because he was worried he didn't know how to "defend" himself but it seemed cruel to douse his budding level of coolness, she settled for ruffling his hair and running out of his compartment before his stunning spell (which incidentally she had taught him only a week previously) hit her.

Reaching the door to their compartment it became apparent to Mia that something had changed since her departure, the blinds had been drawn all the way down so no one could see in, and also too many voices were emanating from inside for just Bella and Mary. Mia felt for her wand handle within her robes just in case the occasion called for it and opened the compartment door boldly.

'Alright, Wright? Good summer? Not missed me too much I hope' Sirius was grinning at Mia from where she had been sitting a mere five minutes before and stretched his hand towards her in a mockingly romantic gesture

'Oh you got me there. Couldn't stop thinking about you and missing you profusely' Mia said in a high pitched girly voice stretching her hand out towards him. Mia kept walking towards him, hand out-stretched, until their fingertips were almost touching then withdrew her hand and slapped him round the back of the head 'Don't be an idiot Black'

Mia settled in-between Sirius and Peter with Mary, Bella and James opposite. She couldn't help noticing that James had left a space where Lily had been sitting in anticipation of her return.

'Am I missing something? Is there a reason you're here?' Mia said raising an appraising eyebrow at the three boys undisguised scepticism evident in her voice

James shrugged 'We got bored when Remus swanned off to the Prefect carriage and decided to see what our fellow Gryffies were up to'

'And obviously we had to see that you were all safe in these dark, dark times' Sirius chipped in punching Mia lightly on the arm

'Not enough people to hex?' Mia drawled unleashing what she'd like to think of as a cheeky grin

They chuckled.

'Something like that' Sirius said still smirking

'Yeah that and we'd already got Snivellus' Peter said shooting his eyes to his friends for approval

'Yep gave him bright blue hair and some horns, thought we'd give him a proper welcome back' James said stretching his arms up and forwards

'I swear he just gets creepier and creepier each time I see him' Mary said giving an involuntary shiver

'It's all the grease on that hair' Bella said laughing

'Still not fans then?' Sirius said raising an eyebrow at the girls

'Not remotely' Mia answered

At that moment the door of the carriage opened and Lily's emerald eyes looked back at the group with Remus looking at them nervously from behind. She looked as if she was going to kick off and Mia almost ushered her from the carriage but Lily's face suddenly fell calm and she took the seat offered to her by James.

'Remus warned me this might happen' Lily said trying to leave as much space as possible between her and James although Mia noted it was hard considering the size of the compartment and she was made even more aware of this as Remus took the space on the other side of Peter.

The fact that Sirius was fairly muscly did not help matters.

James broke the considerable silence whilst everyone shifted to try to make adequate room 'I think there's nothing for it Lils you'll just have to sit on my lap to make room' he gave her a cheeky grin Mia supposed to try and assure her he was joking

'I'll ignore that actual statement because you didn't call me Evans' Lily said arching one eyebrow at him 'and I won't hex you because last year I swore I'd at least make it to the feast'

Well this was progress the fact they were all sitting in the same compartment showed a marked improvement in the friendship between the sixth years.

They managed to chat and giggle their way through the rest of the journey and without Lily hexing James although she did have to point menacingly at him with her wand after a slightly lewd comment. Eventually the boys had to depart the compartment and head back to theirs so they could change.

'I think you're getting to like him Lils' Mia remarked as her friend moved over to sit by her

'Yeah I mean you didn't hex him once that time' Mary chimed in

'And you were in contact with each other without flinching' Bella laughed her dirty laugh winking at Lily as she did so

'_Forced_ contact' Lily said rolling her green eyes and huffing at her friends' intolerability 'I find him….bearable. We're _almost_ friends, emphasis on almost, he could just cock it up by asking me out again'

'Which he hasn't done for months' Mia pointed out 'I might warn James there's a light at the end of the tunnel'

Mia ducked as Lily swung her hand at her head, lucky she'd always had quick reflexes thanks to a younger brother and constant exposure to quidditch, and Lily's reaction only enforced Mia's belief that Lily was indeed beginning to find James more than "bearable".

They didn't speak to the marauders again, much to everyone's pleasure but more so to Lily's, until everyone was seated at the Gryffindor table for sorting. Mia bristled with slight frustration as she felt Sirius sit down on her left, they'd been getting on better but his ego was too big to spend copious amounts of time in her life and the train ride to Hogwarts had been his allotted time.

'How were the holidays then Wright, seriously'

Mia turned round to find Sirius smiling at his own joke and sighed, some people had a limit to how much they grew up, he was apparently stuck at the age of eight 'Old joke Black'

'How were the holidays Pad-Sirius?' Peter chipped in across the table, it figured that he hadn't seen any of the Marauders over the holidays not for their lack of trying to include him more due to his attachment to his mother…and cheese

'Not that we didn't invite you to spend some, what would have been, blessed time with us but since you ask Wormtail, I'm still at the Potter's but trying to find my own place. Contrary to his own belief spending that much time with James is not a bed of roses' Sirius said raising an eyebrow at his best friend across the table as James flicked him between the eyes

'Not had contact from the parents then?' Bella asked chiming in from Mia's other side

'Had a "secret" owl from Regulus' Sirius said making quotation marks out of his fingers

'Saying?' Bella persisted

'That I should re-join the Black family to restore my honour and that he thought I'd made my point'

'Tell them your reply though Sirius' Remus chipped in from James' side struggling to maintain a straight face

'Told him he could bugger off didn't I? The smarmy git, and yes I did actually call him a smarmy git in the letter. To be honest I'm better off without them, they don't deserve me'

Mia rolled her eyes at his typical arrogance and looked across to see Lily acting the same and they smiled at each other. The boys chuckled at Sirius, and they all high-fived each other subtly whilst Mia sneaked a look at the Slytherin table and the short black hair of Regulus Black, although good-looking with defined features and baring a likeness to his brother his features seemed oddly distorted. The Gryffindor sixth years fell silent to listen to the sorting hat's annual message which as far as Mia could gather was emphasising caution in who you place your trust but to trust your friends and family and band together to get through "these troubled times".

'Cheerful as ever' Mary muttered from across the table as Dumbledore stood up to give his brief speech

'Sign of the times isn't it I suppose' Lily ventured

The rest of the meal passed quite pleasantly and Mia was comfortably full with quality food as she made her way back to the Gryffindor common room with Bella and Mary as Lily had to stay to escort the first-years back to the common room, an unfortunate job of a prefect. The boys had left the meal just before them, except Remus who was the other Gryffindor prefect, and were nowhere to be found when the three girls entered the common room. Six years of being at Hogwarts and still the sight of her trunk at the foot of her bed made Mia smile with happiness. This was where she was meant to be.

'I'm definitely putting my pyjamas on now' Mary said ripping her trunk open and dunking her arm into the mess to find them

'Seconded' Bella said from next to Mary not attempting to open her trunk just yet

'Way ahead of you' Mia smiled and clicked open her trunk to pull her pyjamas from the very top of it, she packed in order as it seemed a much easier way of unpacking

Once everyone was changed Mia was sat pensively on her bed mulling over what could happen during the first week of the year, first years getting lost was guaranteed, and new romances bloomed although they were always seemed the ones which were doomed to end within weeks

Mia leant back onto the pillows of her bed and as tiredness started to take hold already she couldn't help but feel this might have the making of a blockbuster year

The boys were sitting on the floor of their dorm having just finished a particularly heated game of exploding snap between Sirius and James, with Sirius winning of course. Sirius loved annoying James like this and still smiling from his resounding victory he got up and dragged himself over to his bed to find his pyjama bottoms in the mess of his trunk.

'You shouldn't have asked for a rematch from our game on the train Prongs' he said smirking as he pulled off his robes and on his bottoms leaving his chest bare 'You must've known I'd always win'

'Ha-di-ha I'm pretty sure you confunded me on the train Padfoot. Now wizard's chess _that's_ a real mans game' James said from standing on his bed next to Sirius' as he too pulled on his pyjamas and proceeded to jump on his bed

'Now, now children play nice' Remus shot sarcastically from the other side of the room and Sirius couldn't help but smile at his friends' ability to diffuse or detect an emerging difficult situation

'Right you are Moony. There are far more important things to be discussing' Sirius said reclining on his bed and shooting a sideways glance at James who was nodding in agreement 'For example has anyone seen any hot-tottie they like?'

Sirius noted that Peter, who had thus far hardly said a word since they'd arrived back in their dorm, was now paying a hell of a lot more attention to what was being said.

'Well I still maintain Lily is the hottest girl in this school, she'd easily get a 10, perfect'

'Stuck record Prongs' Sirius said rolling his eyes dramatically at Remus who was laughing from the opposite bed

'I would ask if you've seen anyone Padfoot but since you've dated most of the year except the Gryffindor girls I'd presume it was a rather small field' James sniped back and Sirius shot a half-hearted stunning spell at him as punishment which James easily dodged

'Fine then let's just chat about the Gryffindor's then, that way we're all on an even playing field' Remus said

'Lily's the fittest' James said immediately

Sirius watched Remus tilt his head to one side 'I don't know, I've always thought Mary was really pretty, I love the chestnut colour of her hair, and certainly Bella's got what one could call nice assets' the boys nodded in agreement at this 'and Mia is _definitely_ looking better than she did at the end of last year'

'A lot slimmer' Peter said and Sirius could swear he saw the boy lick his lips, sometimes he was a little to creepy for Sirius' liking

'And the hair is looking better' James chimed in 'more blondey, sets off the eyes'

'I agree she's a lot hotter than she was' Sirius said turning round so he could fix his Gryffindor banner to the wall

'Somewhat agreed' Remus said sceptically nodding at Sirius from across the room

'Hey Paddie' James chimed

'Yes oh dear one' Sirius replied rolling his eyes

'Didn't you try to get with Mia that one time?'

'Oh I remember that' Remus chuckled oblivious to the glares Sirius was now shooting them

'Truth and dare, wasn't it Moony?' James asked innocently

'Third year?'

'Paddie' James asked turning back to face Sirius with a grin 'didn't she knee you in the balls?'

'You know she did Prongs'

'Just checking'

'Aw Sirius' one and only rejection' Remus said mockingly

'I was thirteen'

'Either way mate it was still a rejection' Remus chuckled

'So ratings out of ten for all of them, God we haven't done this for a while' James said from his bed 'I nominate Lily a ten, Mia an eight and a half and the other two eights. Any disagreements?'

Sirius had gone under his bedcovers by now and turned over to look at his friend with a cynical eye 'She's pretty and whatever but I'd give Lils a nine and a half at max and maybe give Mia an eight despite her smoking body'

'Which we never discussed' Peter said somewhat hopefully

'And which we aren't going to discuss Wormtail' Sirius said hoping to cut off the lewd comments which were sure to follow, too lewd for even James and Sirius and that was saying something


	2. Truce

Chapter 2

Mia awoke with a start when her curtains were wrenched apart and the bright sunlight streamed through them burning her eyes slightly as she struggled into consciousness. Bella's head loomed into view blocking some of the sunlight off and Mia opened one eye to look at her friend who was raising a disapproving eyebrow at her friend's situation. Definitely too early to be up.

'Leave me alone' Mia moaned turning over and pulling the sheets over her head hoping to get a few more minutes sleep

Next thing she knew the sheets were being ripped off her and she was assaulted by the cold that was rippling through their dorm room from the open window by her bed. Mia growled aggressively and tried to snatch the sheets back but Bella stood up and help them out of reach smirking slightly at Mia's dazed expression and the quite spectacular bed head which had manifested itself in her hair during her all too brief altercation with sleep

'Lils and Mary have already left for breakfast you idiot, get your arse out of bed' Bella then took a pillow from under Mia's head and hit her with it raising it again as Mia held up a hand in defeat and wondered idly whether they may have pancakes for breakfast

Mia sat up and found her uniform already folded on top of her trunk, you had to love the house-elves. She pulled it on wearily and visited the bathroom to wash her face and put on some mascara and eyeliner to try and make her eyes look less tired and vaguely presentable. The first day was always the worst. When she came out of the bathroom Bella was sat lazily on her bed inspecting her perfectly manicured finger nails

'You ready?'

When Mia and Bella got to breakfast they took their places next to Lily and Mary respectively and Mia pulled two slices of toast onto her plate before lathering them in butter and jam and taking a satisfying bite. With that and a large gulp of pumpkin juice her tiredness seemed to drip away until she was left feeling quite excited for the day ahead.

'Pass the pumpkin juice will you Evans' James said appearing from his seat further down the table

'There's one right by you _Potter_'

James turned back to where the others were sitting and examining the jug which would've ordinarily contained the juice 'Sirius and I may or may not have tried to change it to rum…..it's some sort of coffee or tea mix' he looked sheepishly at Lily and dragged his hand through his messy black hair, a nervous reflex he often employed when round Lily

'Why doesn't that surprise me?' Lily shot sarcastically looking down the table at the other marauders with disdain

'Sorry about calling you Evans, force of habit'

Lily rolled her eyes and lazily handed him the jug of pumpkin juice 'No worries'

James looked at her demeanour and then back at the other marauders who had now spilt their charmed drink over their section of the table where the varnish was starting to bubble and crack 'Don't mind if we move up here do you? I'm worried for my health'

Lily gave a short nod and James turned round and motioned to his friends to join him. Mia was somewhat surprised when James sat down next to her instead of Lily on the other side of the table it was a well-established fact throughout the school that James Potter used any excuse necessary to be near a certain red-headed Gryffindor. Sirius shuffled up to sit next to Lily and opposite James, and Remus and Peter tacked onto the end.

'Quidditch try-outs are going to be next Friday by the way Mia' James said with a mouthful of egg spraying her somewhat in the salivary mess. On top of everything else he had going for him James had also been made quidditch captain and held the Gryffindor and school record for most goals scored in a season. It was one of the only things that Mia looked up to him for; she was a chaser herself.

'Reckon you'll be able to get family secrets on the snitch?' Sirius asked winking from across the table, this too Mia noted, was an almost annual occurrence to the beginning of the quidditch season and every time Mia regretted mentioning her relation to Bowman Wright since the moment James walked into the common room on the first day during first year.

'Why do you insist on believing I can magically communicate with a dead relative Black?' Mia grumbled

'You're still a Wright'

'Sirius I genuinely wouldn't be able to tell you how to even start _thinking_ about forging a snitch' Mia sighed aggrievedly, she could've probably told the two boys that the wings were stitched on by Cornish pixies and they would've believed her such was the extent of their delusion

'Well thoughts are you're weak point'

'Reckon I'll still be on the team then?' Mia said turning towards James and resisting the temptation to turn round and slam Sirius' head into his bowl of cereal

'Better be, I don't want to be the only remaining sixth year from last year, and I'm pretty sure Vance wants to hex me since I got captain'

'What? So I'm supposed to be your "protection"?' Mia raised a quizzically eyebrow at James and formed quotation marks with her fingers

'I wouldn't think so. Women can't duel so you'd be more…..of a witness I'd be the protection' Sirius shot from across the table flexing his rather large and defined muscles, once again demonstrating his outsized ego and sexist mentality Mia thought with a sigh, he too happened to be an excellent beater and the season previously had knocked the Slytherin keeper out for a week. The boy in question, Hamish Boden-Doyle, was a second year and needless to say had dropped out of the team as soon as he'd come round in the hospital wing fearing further vicious attacks. Poor kid.

'Now, now Sirius' Remus said ruffling Sirius' wavy black hair and avoiding the punch in retaliation 'play nice'

'We only need 3 players don't we?' Mia said deftly ignoring Sirius' comment

'Mmm chaser, seeker, beater' James said gulping down some pumpkin juice 'Although frankly I'm worried we won't find a seeker as good as O'Hare that boys probably the reason we won the cup'

McGonagall came down the table person by person after breakfast had finished and worked out their timetable for them. Mia wasn't too worried she'd got the grades she needed to continue the subjects she wanted to and was particularly pleased with her O in herbology, something she hadn't been expecting and a subject she needed at N.E.W.T level to have even a slight possibility of making it as an auror. McGonagall turned to Mia after the other girls had had their timetables worked out for them.

'Miss Wright I was very impressed by your results, your transfiguration result was particularly pleasing' McGonagall chuckled as she gave Mia a wink and smiled warmly at her 'I believe you wanted to continue Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Herbology, Charms, Transfiguration and Muggle Studies, is that still the case?'

'As long as professor Podmore is happy to take me with an E' Mia said knowing perfectly well that an E was fine but liking the fact she was getting praise from the head of house not something that happened all too often, Mia wasn't exactly the epitome of the perfect student

'Perfectly happy' McGonagall tapped an empty piece of parchment and handed it to Mia with a smile and a flourish

Mia examined it carefully and noted that double potions was the first thing she had. Brilliant. Not, it happening to be the subject she found most tedious, being one of Slughorn's favourites definitely had its downside. Then Defence and then free lunch free Muggle Studies.

'Do any of you have double potions first?' Mia asked slightly depressed by the idea of spending the morning in the dungeons when it seemed to be shaping up to be a pretty nice day outside from the pale blue colour of the magical ceiling

'Unfortunately' Lily said raising her hand, although Mia didn't know why her friend would be dreading potions when it seemed to come so naturally to her

'Snap' Sirius said from across the table. Great a lesson with the marauders. Although that could end up with some interesting distractions and Mia definitely wouldn't be complaining about that

Their cosy conversation was broken up suddenly by McGonagall's raised voice from just by Mia where James was obviously trying to arrange his timetable in an extremely annoying fashion, as per usual. As per every other year.

'Mr Potter I have told you before and I will tell you again I will not be providing you with a timetable which gives you the maximum possibility of becoming a professional quidditch player' the distaste was obvious from McGonagall's voice and Mia edged slightly away from James in case spit started to fly in a heated argument, something she had witnessed only once before from McGonagall to a pupil. The pupil in question had been James when he had tried to arrange his timetable last year to be exactly the same as Lily's even though he didn't do the same subjects.

'Is that because all I'd need is free time?' James said cheekily looking up at McGonagall

'That would be why' McGonagall said frostily, she took a deep breath and threw a knowing look at the others watching the conversation intently

'I wouldn't think that would be an issue professor' James said letting a small grin parade itself on his lips 'less stress for the others professors'

'As true as that might be Mr. Potter' McGonagall began in a tightened voice hitching one of her eyebrows up so high it was almost touching her hairline 'I thought we'd agreed what subjects you were taking last year when you last raised this preposterous idea'

'Fine' James said with fake resignation throwing his arms in the air in dramatism and Mia had a sneaking suspicion that James had always known this would be the outcome

McGonagall threw a filthy look at James, tapped a piece of parchment handed to him and moved onto a group of fourth years sitting further down the table without a word more to James. Despite the underlying dislike Mia possessed for the marauders courtesy of Lily and her own experience, she had to admit to herself some of the encounters that they had with teachers were highly amusing to watch.

Whilst Mia was distracted by laughing inwardly at memories from over the years she felt her timetable being tugged out of her hand and whipped her head round in time to see Sirius looking gleeful at his victory flattening her timetable on the table in front of him

'Give it back Black' Mia said stretching out her hand 'It's just a timetable'

Sirius slapped her hand a way and Mia nursed the warm patch now emanating from the spot 'Just checking something Wright'

Sirius' eyebrows furrowed and a sunbeam hit his face and for a second Mia could see what everyone else saw. One heck of a gorgeous boy. She shook her head as if to rid herself of this thought and set her mind to retrieving her timetable 'Finished?'

'Brilliant' Sirius handed Mia the timetable back and locked eyes with her across the table 'We have exactly the same timetable'

'Stalking me are we? Asked professor McGonagall to make sure we were together?' Mia said snatching the parchment back and smiling tautly at Sirius trying to resist smiling at her own sarcasm

'Got me there' Sirius said letting out a bark-like laugh and turned to Remus to continue a conversation they'd obviously began before they had affixed themselves to the girls.

After breakfast all of the Gryffindors, except for Peter who had only got an A in potions at O.W.L and Mary who didn't need potions, headed down to the dungeons and they all heaved a heavy sigh when they saw they'd be sharing the class with a number of Slytherins. One of which Mia recognised as Catrionna Pennifold a chaser on their quidditch team who Mia'd hexed last year to try and increase Gryffindors chances of a win, Mia swore she saw Catrionna put a finger to her throat. With this sign it was with some trepidation that Mia entered the classroom as Slughorn opened the door, Mia, Lily and Bella placed themselves at the second from back well away from the Slytherins who had oddly opted for seats at the front, they were usually adverse to any thoughts of hard work. A rather large amount of shuffling, talking and laughing alerted the girls that the marauders had decided to occupy the seats behind them.

'It's weird' Lily said so quietly that only Bella and Mia could hear 'They haven't hexed Severus yet'

As if she had jinxed it a jet of light shot over Lily's shoulder and hit Snape two rows in front and he immediately got jelly legs, the jelly legs hex was one of James' favourites. Snape immediately looked towards James with a scowl and had half raised his wand when Slughorn's cough echoed round the dungeon and he was forced into silent compliance.

'Right as you know Potions is a step up this year and I will be throwing you in the deep-end by asking you to pair up to make' Slughorn stopped and Mia rolled her eyes, this was his way of trying (emphasis on trying) to create suspense 'The Draught of Living Death'

There was a bang from behind them and the Mia turned to find that Sirius had dropped his head onto the table in mock dismay and James was rubbing his back as if to comfort him like a child, Mia smirked at the sight, provided a smile to Remus and turned back around.

'Also, to make this more interesting _I_ will be choosing the pairs' Slughorn glanced around the classroom and eyes settled upon the group of Gryffindors at the back 'Bella Newby shall pair Macnair'

Bella groaned as she moved slowly from her perch to partner the Slytherin she looked back to Lily and Mia with a grimace as she sat down next to the heavy-set boy

'Lily shall partner Severus' go figure, Mia thought, the two best students in potions had be paired together, and Slughorn's two favourite pupils

Lily got up stiffly, she hadn't spoken to Snape since the incident down by the lake during O. last year. Mia also noticed that James was clenching his wand unnaturally hard, tapping it on the desk so sparks flew out the end landing on the cold grey flagstones of the floor.

Mia zoned out as Slughorn paired off the rest of the class until she heard her name

'Miss Wright?' Slughorn said questioningly and for what seemed the thousandth time she rolled her eyes at his inability to immediately recognise the students who weren't his absolute favourites 'You can go with Black'

Mia half-heartedly moved her belongings to the back desk beside Sirius who was now rocking back on his chair with a smirk decorating his aristocratic features

'Don't pretend you can resist me' Sirius said with a cheeky grin

Mia chuckled at Sirius inwardly cursing his good-looks and flickering with annoyance at his blinkard arrogance 'Got me there. Now if you wouldn't mind being a darling and getting the ingredients and I'll set up my cauldron' Mia smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes sardonically

Mia had set the cauldron up within thirty seconds and stood waiting for Sirius' return, he had stopped to have an animated discussion with James who was sitting next to a Hufflepuff girl, someone Mia recognized as a member of the unofficial Sirius Black fan club, Sirius shoved a finger in lily's direction pointedly and mustn't have said something good because seconds later he was retreating back to their table after James had dismissed him with an angry shove.

They worked in silence for the best part of half an hour, Mia barely noticed the time until Sirius sighed and put down the knife he was using to try to cut a bean 'Look I know we haven't seen eye-to-eye as such'

'You could say that' Mia scoffed looking across at Sirius as he scraped some hair out of his eyes

'And I know we sometimes get on' Sirius said raising his voice, Mia had to credit that at least he was trying 'but I just thought I'd let you know I've grown up and I'm willing to put our differences aside. If not do it for me, do it for quidditch' Sirius gave her a small, genuine smile and Mia saw his honesty through his clear grey eyes

'Agreed' Mia said almost glad they'd cleared the air, they hadn't really been okay since she's been an unwitting guinea pig for one of James and Sirius' more brutal pranks last year which had involved three days of painful rehabilitation to remove several discoloured boils just before the beginning of O.

'Shake on it then' Sirius said offering his hand

'Are you serious?' Mia said realising her mistake too late as she clamped a hand over her mouth and wishing she could hex herself, or at least turn back time

'Well now that you mention it….' Mia cut off his sentence by hitting him round the head with her dragon hide glove that was lying on the desk beside the brewing potion

'Don't!'

'I thought we were going to be civil' Sirius said rubbing his head but the corners of his mouth twitched upwards slightly

'And I thought you'd grown up' Mia shot back

'Don't be an arse' Sirius said grabbing Mia's hand and shook it before she could snatch it away and they both dissolved in giggles until they realised their potion was turning purple not the dark blue it should've been at that stage

'Ah the bean' Sirius said matter-of-factly and chopped the bean in half and dropped it in

Instantly it became apparent this wouldn't have been advisable as acrid black smoke started billowing from the cauldron and the flames underneath turned blue and started lapping up the sides of the cauldron. Whilst this may've been a situation to try and take control of Mia couldn't help but laugh and was glad to see Sirius laughing too. Professor Slughorn made his way over to their desk and with a wave of his wand cleared the smoke and returned the cauldron to its normal state

'Mr Black, I am most surprised that _you_ are behind this mistake usually one of the better ones' he said the last comment more to himself 'I believe you didn't stir the potion fifteen times anti-clockwise before adding the bean?'

Mia looked to Sirius to see if he was going to answer the supposed question put to them, but found that he was looking at her with the same quizzical look. Mia saw the side of Sirius' mouth twitch and turned away quickly to avoid laughing.

'Yeah that was probably it, my bad professor' Sirius said sitting back on his chair

Slughorn looked appraisingly at Sirius and seemed to forgive one of his favourite's mistake 'No harm done my boy, no harm done', with that he shuffled to the front and mere moments later dismissed the class on completment of the lesson

A wave of frustration passed through Mia as Sirius merely grunted a goodbye and then ran after James who had already left the dungeon. Obviously they had reached a truce rather than a base for a friendship; an uneasy alliance was Mia's way of thinking of it.

'I don't know how you messed that up' Lily said chastising Mia as the two girls and Bella were making their way to defence

'Hey not all of us are potions genii' Bella said 'but even me and Macnair didn't screw up as badly as you did Mia, and you say you got an O in potions?' Bella chuckled and patted her long brown hair into an appeasing shape

Mia raised her eyebrows at her friends 'I'll have you know that it was Sirius who caused the explosion, didn't read the instructions right the idiot'

'That's so unfair though' Bella moaned pulling a pained face 'we all know that when it comes to the real exam they're going to ace it'

'I wouldn't be so sure, if they fail too badly even Slughorn would be forced to kick the marauders out of his class' Lily said scathingly looking across to her two friends as they arrived at the door of the defence classroom

All the marauders were there already, this being the only class they bothered turning up to on time. They looked up as Lily's voice carried down the corridor.

'Think we're epic fails do you Lils?' James said leaning casually against the door raking a hand through his hair

'No I just think there isn't a lot of room in your head for anything else since your egos are so big' Lily said indignantly and this gained a chuckle from Sirius, Remus, and Peter who were leaning against the wall a little further down from James

'Think she got you there prongs' Sirius laughed clapping his best friend on the shoulder

As if to prove a point Lily turned her back on James and started an animated discussion with the Ravenclaw prefect who had just arrived at the classroom and was taken by surprise. James stared after her with puppy dog eyes but seemed to get over this knock down quickly and turned his head to talk to Sirius.

'I think she doth protest too much' Mary said announcing her arrival with a grin

At this point Professor Benson decided to announce his arrival to the class, he flung open the door, upon which James had been leaning, and James tumbled to the floor right at his feet. This ensued much to the hilarity of the waiting class and Remus had even conjured a camera to glorify James' embarrassingly red face as he stumbled to his feet and picked up his bag.

'Ah, I believe you must be Mr Potter' Benson squinted his eyes as if to take a good look at James' face 'yes the outgoing professor warned me about you, something about blowing up the dragon skeleton yes?'

James gulped and pushed his stylish glasses back up his nose 'Simply a…..misunderstanding' James ventured trying to regain some of his bravado and repair what damage may have been done to his reputation when he fell to the floor. Ironically enough it wasn't "just a misunderstanding", James and Sirius had taught themselves confringo and to taunt Professor Greten (an absolute bitch as it turned out) they blew up her prized skeleton in one of their last lessons before exams had started, she wasn't overly pleased.

'No worries my dear boy, I once did something similar myself at your age, in fact I commend you' Benson was pushing potter into the classroom now and motioned for the rest of the class to follow

Everyone was relaxed now and the Gryffindors sixth years settled in the back row with Mia sitting on a desk with Bella with Lily and Mary on the left and Remus and Peter to the right and James and Sirius in front. No one was settling down and bewitched paper animals were flying overhead morphing into different things as different spells hit them. Mia took her opportunity to participate in the chaos by bewitching a scrunched up piece of parchment to soar quite violently into the back of the Slytherin prefect's head and then ducking down so he couldn't see her

'Order class, order' Benson seemed to have an odd power over the class and everyone fell silent 'now as I have no idea of your capabilities I thought we would start off with something fun and have a little bit of light duelling practise so I can observe you all'

Mia was silently looking forward to this, duelling had always been one of her strong points as, when her dad was at home, he took the opportunity to teach her all the advanced magic he though relevant which included most spells they were taught at N.E.W.T. Mia ended up with Lily as Bella had pranced off to fawn over Remus and Mary had elected to not participate in the practical lesson and was currently lying underneath her desk and stealthily eating a chocolate frog

'Let's not take it too seriously' Lily said as Professor Benson moved all the desks to the side with a flick of his wand 'I don't want to have another teacher fawning over me all year'

'Sure?' Mia said suggestively waggling her eyebrows up and down

'Carry on like that and I'll change my mind'

Mia consented to the watered down duelling practise and the two friends lazily flicked spells at each other and defended themselves with protego which they had learnt years previously.

In a break between their lethargic spell casting, and after checking that James was well positioned at the other end of the classroom in a heated duel with Sirius, Mia breached a conversation 'So Lils when are you going to admit you fancy James?'

'Be careful or I might dock points for insolence' Lily said her green eyes blazing

'I think it'd be worth it if you _finally_ admitted it' Mia said chuckling as Lily through a glance towards James to see if he had caught any snippet of their conversation

'Stupefy' Lily yelled and Mia easily performed a shield charm silently 'God I hate that you know everything' Lily grumbled

'Hmmm yes' Mia said and took a step towards Lily raising her wand slightly 'And now back to more pressing matters Lily Evans, tell me or I'll rictumsempra you'

'I don't think I'll dignify that question with an answer' Lily said turning her nose up

'I gave you the choice, _rictumsempra_' Mia said dramatically sighing as she shot the tickling spell towards her friend

As Lily lay giggling on the floor as the effects wore off the professor halted the duelling and stood on his desk at the front 'Now I think is the time to make things interesting, we shall have a demonstration duel from two of you, and the winner shall gain…..let's say our respect, now clear to the sides all of you to lead an open area for the selected pair'

Everyone shuffled to the sides quickly obeying the professor's commands.

'Now I think that Mr Black should be the first selected' Benson said as Sirius stepped forwards with a bit of a swagger and with much back smacking from his friends, and Mia couldn't help noticing that all the girls in the room were staring at Sirius as if in a trance 'and Miss Wright I saw you shoot a particularly good spell just now so you should do just fine'

As Mia stepped forward into the cleared space opposite Sirius and was gripped with an inexplicable sudden urge to take him down a peg or two despite their agreement a mere hour ago

'We'll do the best of three okay? Whoever ends up on the floor first loses that round. Now you both know the good manners, bow' the professor said and Sirius and Mia did as they were told 'And on the count of three, one, two, three'

As soon as three was said Mia thought 'Petrificus Totalus' and flicked her wand and was satisfied to see a stream of light come out of the end of her wand and hit Sirius in the chest and was even more happy to see him hit the floor ensconced in her body-bind curse.

'Well done Miss Wright, I didn't know any of you would know non-verbal spells, I'm supposed to teach you this year' Benson said as he hurried over to Sirius to remove the curse 'One nil Miss Wright and take ten points for Gryffindor as well'

Sirius scrambled to his feet pointing his wand at Mia and narrowed his eyes 'You cheated'

'I don't think so' Mia said flippantly her wand also outstretched towards Sirius

'You never said you could do non-verbals'

'And you never asked' Mia said raising an eyebrow at Sirius' confused and humiliated expression

'One, two, three'

It was Mia this time that felt herself flying through the air and felt herself hit the floor with a subdued thunk. She felt her cheeks flaming and stood up whirling herself round to face Sirius once more her wand outstretched. At least she knew what she was in for this time and was pretty sure she was ready.

'You cheated' Mia said mockingly impersonating Sirius' tone

'And you never asked' Sirius said in a high-pitched voice that more closely resembled a first-year than Mia

'One all, and this the last round. One, two, three'

This time they both thought of their spells at the same time and Mia's gold sparks collided in the air with Sirius' blue ones. Mia placed both hands on her wand and willed her spell to go further down towards Sirius, this was definitely the only opportunity she was going to get anytime soon to take Sirius down a peg or to in a "friendly" environment so to speak. Sirius too was concentrating just as hard Mia noticed and was rapidly trying to think of anything her dad had taught her to win a duel; distraction was something that rang in her head. Mia looked at the streams of light flowing into each other and flicked her wand out to the right so the spells flew out of the window smashing it in the process and Mia thanked God that Sirius' eyes followed it in surprise. Mia took the opportunity to place a stunning spell right in the middle of his chest, slightly more strongly than she had intended, and once he had hit the floor he skidded across it, gliding to stop metres from the back wall. The class erupted into cheers and Mia couldn't help but feel elated by her triumph. Remus had even got his camera out again, this was obviously an event worth documenting.

Mia wandered over to where Sirius was just returning to a standing position and said as innocently as she could 'What was that at breakfast about me not being able to beat you?'

'Yeah alright Wright don't get too cocky, there will be an opportunity to get you back'

'And what happened to being nice'

'I could ask you the same thing'

'It was for an academic example' Mia said twiddling a piece of her hair in her fingers innocently

'That last stunning spell wasn't for the class's benefit' Sirius said but he was smiling now and Mia could tell, or at least was hoping for the sake of her health, that he would stand by their earlier agreement

Mia was buoyed throughout the rest of the day by her success in defence and had people coming up to her throughout the rest of the idea asking if it was true and Mia thought wryly whether the event would pass into Hogwarts legend. She even made it through Muggle Studies without falling asleep, something which often happened due to the fact that she knew most of it and its simple nature. As she lay in bed that night she was quietly -happy with herself and the success of the first day. Bring on the rest of the week.


	3. Quidditch

Chapter 3

The rest of the week passed as expected, not many lessons had started practical lessons yet but chose to explain the theory as had happened in the first herbology lessons where Professor Sprout had explained, in detail, the properties of a fanged geranium and if they were properly cared for they could make quite nice gifts, after the second lesson where one almost bit Mary's finger off Mia had to disagree. With lessons such as these when Friday arrived Mia definitely understood why the N.E in N.E. stood for nastily exhausting. The only speck of light in the darkness of Friday lessons was that quidditch try-outs were after lessons, a sometimes quite amusing occasion.

'Ready for try-outs?' James said sliding into the seat next to Mia

Mia was momentarily dumbfounded James usually used every opportunity under the sun to sit next to Lily and there she was sitting on the end of their group with a nice space next to her and James let Remus take it, Lily too seemed a little bemused by this development but quickly regained her composure by glaring practisedly at James.

'Of course, thinking I might take my broom out for a practise before lunch' Mia had been worrying about this, she hadn't ridden all week and the "fun" quidditch she had played during summer hadn't exactly pushed her, in fact she was sure that continuously pushing Ernie off his broom while they hovered over the local lake barely counted as flying at all

'Dedication' James said piling some more eggs into his mouth 'just what I want from my team' he said pointing his fork at Mia as he preceded to clap Mia hard on the back whilst spraying Remus and Sirius, sitting opposite him, in a fine mist of scrambled egg

'Muggle Studies first then defence then nothing until transfiguration and herbology?' Sirius said wiping the egg out of his eyebrows with a corner of his robes

'Indeed' Mia said eating her buttered and jammed toast and then addressed the two quidditch boys 'fancy joining me to throw the quaffle about for practise?

Sirius and James pulled identically pained faces and Sirius answered 'Would love to but we haven't finished Sprout's Herbology essay on fanged geraniums yet and Remus said he'd help us after he finished Ancient Runes meaning no time for practise'

'It was only a foot!' Lily spluttered at the two marauders broken from her reverie

'Pranks to plan, lessons to disrupt, you know how it is Lils' James said nonchalantly as he piled more bacon and eggs onto his plate sparing a glance at the redhead

'Don't think I won't dock points again Potter'

'Look if you're going to _insist_ I don't call you Evans at least you can call me James, which is my name you know' James was smirking across the table at Lily who looked like she had been snogged by the giant squid

'Plus you won't dock us points any more, said so last year because, and I quote you "don't want to finish last in the house cup"' Sirius said flinging an arm around Lily's shoulders and squeezing her tight against his side so she couldn't escape 'which we didn't last year'

'I'm sure the other Gryffindors were happy with second Black' Lily said and stood up violently knocking the table so their glasses spilt pumpkin juice slightly 'I forgot my books for Arithmacy, see you there Peter' and with that she practically ran out of the Great Hall

'Anyway' Sirius said dragging out the last syllable to try and defuse the slightly awkward silence that had descended on their group 'Wright, if I did practise with you, spending all day with a Black, are you sure you can handle the heat' he waggled his eyebrows in a suggestive manner.

Mia stared at him feeling a mix between mildly disgusted and mildly amused, sometimes Sirius came up with inappropriate things to say and Mia had never learnt how to properly response. 'Think I'll be okay thanks' Mia said letting a smile spread itself across her face

Mia arrived in the Muggle Studies classroom uncharacteristically early; she had left a little the Great Hall a little earlier than the others to collect her text book and hadn't encountered anyone on her way to the lesson. She was already lounging in her seat on the desk she shared with Remus when the two "lead" marauders walked in, minus Remus.

'We'll meet at 11 okay?' James said to Sirius 'we need to be quicker this time though, no point hanging around' the two boys froze for barely a second when they saw Mia sitting innocently in her seat and then James' eyelids shuttered on his hazel eyes and he preceded to walk forwards and take his seat in the desk in front of Mia, Sirius trailing slightly behind a pensive look on his face

'Remus has a family problem' Sirius said flinging his bag dramatically onto his desk 'won't be in classes

'He's gone home?' Mia asked questioningly, it was a rare occurrence that a student got sent home before the weekend although now she thought about it Remus had looked a little fraught at breakfast, and there were several times where he had missed an Astronomy lesson last year because of a "furry little problem" as James put it.

'Yeah' James said pushing his horn rimmed glasses up his nose as he turned round in his chair 'looks like you'll just have to pair up with us for classwork' James smirked at her and Sirius winked

Professor Podmore assigned the class a project to complete in the duration of the first term, handing the completed work in the first lesson back after Christmas, on how a muggle machine could be adapted for magical use. Not one of Mia's fortes she thought with a sigh. Since Remus was absent from the class and he would have been her usual partner, Mia got put with James and Sirius much to their arrogant delight. Mia shifted her chair so she was sitting at the end of James and Sirius' table, dragging her quill and a length of parchment with her.

'James are you thinking what I'm thinking?' Sirius said with a dangerous glint in his grey eyes

'That would be bloody brilliant Padfoot' James said clapping his friend on the back with a grin 'Do you think we could do it in time?'

'Well it's almost finished and the actual projecty theory section of it won't take long. I reckon I can finish the mechanics at the beginning of the Christmas holidays as long as your mum hasn't chucked it out by then'

'I really hope she doesn't'

'We are blatantly going to get an O for this' Sirius said grinning from ear to ear

'I'll write to her just to make sure'

'Mummy's boy' Sirius stopped James' fist before it made contact with the side of his face and laughed 'you know its true'

'Excuse me' Mia said quite loudly feeling a bit put out they hadn't included her in any part of the conversation, and having no idea what they were talking about 'I believe I'm part of this "group" too' Mia formed quotation marks with her fingers hoping it would emphasis her point and her authority

James and Sirius looked at her in slight shock as if they had forgotten she was there, and Mia felt a wave of frustration wash over her before James spoke 'Oh yeah' he flicked his eyes towards Sirius 'You should tell her, it's your….thing' James let out a freakishly girlish giggle

Sirius smirked and leant back in his chair and put his hands behind his hea practically admitting an arrogant vibe 'I'm repairing an old muggle motorbike and altering it so it can fly'

She was shocked and had to consciously think about not letting her jaw hit the desk 'Pardon?'

'It's genius, I know, you don't need to tell me' Sirius pause 'although I tell myself all the time and a little praise would be welcome' he turned his head to Mia so his ebony locks fell slightly in his steely grey eyes

Mia aimed a kick at his shin under the table and new she had hit her target when he yelped and shuffled his chair back away from her 'keep the arrogance down to a minimum and I might agree'

'That was uncalled for' Sirius said rubbing his shin but looked up at her and his face broke into a grin 'but let's be honest would you be able to think of any better?'

The moment Sirius said that Mia knew she was beat, even she had to admit that if Sirius really was in the process of completing a flying motorcycle (she couldn't help but doubt it) then she was hardly going to think of anything that would trump that. Sirius smiled at her triumphantly and cocked an eyebrow.

'Anyway we'll need your help so it's easier if you agree now' James said and Mia felt a little glow inside her that some of the cleverest boys in the year needed _her_ help she smirked 'rather than us blackmailing you'

'Like you could do that' Mia said rolling her eyes, she was pretty sure they had nothing on her, hell, she barely had anything on herself

Sirius laughed again and licked his lips as he leant forward towards her 'You, Benjamin Thomas, and a broom cupboard on the sixth floor last year' he whisper shouted at her and Mia felt her face blanch

'H..how do you know?'

'Marauder's secret' Sirius said smiling contently and tapping the side of his nose

'What could I contribute then?' Mia ventured a little flustered and wondering when the heat in her cheeks would die down

'Apart from us you're the best at this subject and Moony's a dab hand at it too' James said smiling contently 'It would definitely get Professor Podmore off my back for continuing'

Sirius smirked 'I told you last year that using stink pellets in this class was a mistake'

When Defence had finished Mia ran back to the common room as fast as she could and changed into what she like to think of as her quidditch casual gear, she pulled all her hair back into a messy bun on the crown of her head and smiled at her reflection in the wooden mirror situated in their dorm. Mia's new nimbus 1000 was stuffed underneath her bed; she didn't trust the store cupboard down at the pitch further than she could throw a rather hefty Slytherin which wasn't that far as Mia had found out last year when Avery had tried to hex a Gryffindor first year whilst she was walking to Arithmacy. Mia smiled as she stroked the friendly wood of her broom, it really was something to behold, the skies were clear outside and the sun wasn't shining its rays too fiercely. Perfect flying weather.

The pitch was empty when Mia got there, not that she had been expecting any different in the middle of the day but every now and then it was nice to have a little throw-about with someone just to test your skills. Kicking off from the ground Mia accelerated on a steep upward slope and plateaued just above the posts, the feeling of a light breeze on her skin was relaxing and Mia knew that whether she had practised now or not she would've flown perfectly at try-outs. Riding a broom is like the magical equivalent of riding a bike, once you learn to do it properly you never forgot. Nevertheless Mia tested out the full movements of her broom by diving, rolling and accelerating as fast as she could down the length of the pitch. Mia was contented with what her broom could do and settled into running laps of the pitch at high speed whilst hovering a foot from the ground, some people would call it mad she would call it soothing. Mia had just started thinking of new ways to get Lily and James together when she sharply flew back on herself and almost ran into Sirius standing in her way. The swerve Mia took to avoid him threw her off her broom and she skidded for a few metres before stopping aware that her shoulder was putting up a protest at the weight she had put on it in the fall.

'I often have ladies throwing themselves at my feet but I have to admit I never thought you would be one of them' Sirius was standing over Mia now with an arrogant smirk plastered across his face

'Grow-up' came Mia's mumbled response from where she lay on her back

'I already told you I had' Sirius said holding out his hand to help her up 'but we agreed to be civil and I think that trying to run me over on your broom negates that'

Mia cursed his devilish good looks, arrogant grin and the dimple that formed when he made it; she declined his offer of a hand and heaved herself into a standing position.

'Yeah you're right, I would've hit you but I'm afraid it would've scratched the varnish on my broom' Mia drawled sarcastically as she picked up her broom which had come out of the event thankfully unscathed

'I am hurt by this revelation' Sirius said putting the back of his hand to his head in pretend distress, Mia couldn't resist giving him a quick slap round the back of the head and started to walk towards the exit of the pitch and Sirius followed

'What are you doing down here anyway, I thought you had homework'

'Done it, Remus helped, of course',

'Meaning you copied'

'What do you expect?' Sirius said smiling 'and I was going to come join you for a fly but it doesn't seem like there's time' Sirius glanced down at his watch and Mia noticed that he was indeed carrying his broom in his right hand

'Not like you need the practise' Mia muttered, it had only been last year that the captain of Puddlemere United had come to watch Gryffindor vs. Ravenclaw and said that Sirius could hit the bludger "as hard as any of the brainless twats" on his team and Sirius hadn't stopped talking about it for the rest of the quidditch season much to James' annoyance

'It's James who wanted to be a quidditch player not me' Sirius said beaming as he looked over to Mia 'Fancy going to lunch?'

Mia smiled he was definitely serious (thank God she didn't say it aloud) about being civil to each other

'As long as we go back to the common room first so I can get these muddy clothes off and put my broom away'

'I don't know I think the muddy look is kind of sexy'

Right. Back to arrogant arsehole again, nice Sirius was so refreshing for the short space of time he had been around.

The two of them arrived in the Great Hall freshly dressed only minutes after the others had sat down and Mia was surprised to find that the girls had voluntarily elected to sit next to the marauders and more surprising still Lily looked to be having a normal conversation with James as he sat next to her. Sirius followed her stare and winked at her as he sat down heavily next to James leaving Mia to take the space opposite him and next to Remus

'…it is a perfectly sane saying Lils thank you very much' James said as he pulled forward his plate of ham and eggs

'James it makes no sense'

'It does'

'Doesn't'

'Does'

'Stop it and take your lovers tiff elsewhere' Sirius said as he put a hefty amount of sausages on his plate

'It wasn't a lover's tiff' Lily said her face turning almost the same shade as her brilliant red hair

'What were you talking about?' Mia said cutting across what could've become a row with Lily's slightly short temper

'We were talking about what our life sayings were' Lily said looking across at Mia with a warning look in her eyes that said "if you agree with James I'll hex you into oblivion" 'and I said mine was the muggle one "be true to thy self"'

'And I said that was boring' James said cutting across her 'and that I preferred "never tickle a sleeping dragon"'

'It doesn't make sense James!' Lily said turning to James with exasperation in her voice and you could tell they'd been having this discussion for a while

'It does, if you come across a dragon at some point in your life it is probably not the best idea to tickle it. Simple as' James smiled and looked as if he had won a victory spearing a green bean on his plate with glee

'Makes sense' Sirius said and caught Lily's fist before it hit his back 'but personally my all-time favourite is "you are what you eat"'

Bella looked meaningfully at his plateful of sausages 'So you're a sausage?'

The group erupted into laughter and for the rest of the meal Sirius proceeded to play a role-play with his remaining sausages once he had eaten his fill much to the disapproving glances of the surrounding students and the teachers at their table.

Mia was amazed she made it to the quidditch pitch on time for try-outs as she had to have a shower after herbology due to the fact that Helena Broadmore, a hufflepuff, who worked next to her, had somehow managed to explode her bag of dragon dung splattering Mia head to toe in the foul smelling odour that came with it. Arriving at the pitch she found James, Sirius and Falco Vance, their seventh year keeper, standing in their Gryffindor coloured kits opposite a rabble of people trying out. From the almost constant giggling from a select group of girls and the hair tossing and eyelash batting Mia estimated that at least half were there on account of the damming good looks of the captain and his beater.

'Managed to get the dung off?' Sirius called as Mia approached them to stand with her team mates, he was smiling and sharing a few choice looks with James

'You did that, didn't you?' Mia said exasperatedly rolling her eyes

'Not me, James' Sirius said taking a step away from his friend and pointing him

'What can I say, herbology isn't my subject and she's been stalking Sirius since second year, the fact that it splattered you is very regrettable'

'And yet extremely funny'

'Civil?'

'I was stating a fact'

Mia raised an eyebrow at Sirius and put the hand not holding her broom on her hip

'Excuse me for interjecting but shouldn't we start try-outs Potter' Vance said frostily whilst looking disdainfully at James, everyone turned round to look at him

'Right as you may be Vance I think you'll find I'm captain here so watch your tone or you'll find yourself off the team' James had taken a step towards him, that was brave Vance was the same height and marginally more broad, however handy James was with a wand

Vance sneered at James and then took Mia by complete surprise by turning to her and smiling 'you alright Mia? Did you have a good summer?'

'Um…yeah I'm good thanks and had a good summer' Mia said and for probably for the first time took a good look at Vance. He was good-looking may be even the runner up behind James and Sirius, he had dark brown hair, a Mediterranean tan and dark brown eyes, someone she might be able to not rebuff she thought at the back of her bind

He only had chance to smile as James started yelling instructions at the waiting gaggle. He made them all fly two laps round the pitches and eliminated the ones who fell or who just couldn't fly, as the remainder landed Mia spotted a familiar poof of brown hair.

'Ernie!' Mia stalked over and yanked her brother out of the crowd with her free hand 'Explain'

'What?'

'You know what, first years aren't supposed to _be_ at try-outs'

'Just let it go sis' Ernie mumbled shaking off her hand 'I just want to be like….'

He tailed off and looked over Mia's shoulder at James and Sirius who were looking at her quizzically 'You have _got_ to be kidding me, those arrogant arses?'

'Yeah'

'No. Go back to the common room and eat some every flavoured beans like the other first years'

Ernie rolled his eyes at his elder sister 'Oh come on no one will know'

Mia's patience was running out with her brother's stubborn temperament 'You can try out next year if you really must, you like being keeper and Vance will be gone by then'

'I want to try-out'

'Ernest Wilson Wright you get your _arse_ back to the common room right now before I owl mum and dad and tell them you befriended Slytherins' Mia said pointing with her hand menacingly up towards the castle

'But I haven't befriended any Slytherins' Ernie said as his features moulded into a slightly sour face

'They don't know that' Mia countered cocking an eyebrow and hoping her deep blue eyes would convey her message effectively

Ernie stormed off with his broomstick, which was an old one of Mia's she noted he had no thanks the little brat, and looked like his day, no his life, had been made when Sirius patted him on the back and whispered in his ear

'Mind leading my brother astray, Black' Mia said wondering back to where the team were standing watching her

'Back to last names, are we?' Sirius said smiling jovially as if nothing was wrong 'was simply saying I sympathised with the suffering from your fascist ways _Wright_' Mia heard the deliberate emphasis on her last name and rolled her eyes as Sirius gave James an elbow and let out his bark-like laugh

'Do you want to take this quaffle and have a throw around with Sirius and Vance and I'll do the seekers, keep an eye on them though so we can pick, and then we can test out chasers and beaters' James said to the little huddle of the left over team

Mia knocked the red ball out from underneath James' arm and caught it with the same hand, 'alright with me' she smiled and took off into the sky quickly followed by Sirius and Vance, who didn't hang around and flew straight to the posts, probably thought Sirius would hex him as had happened on one memorable occasion during quidditch practise last year

'He likes you' Sirius said matter-of-factly as he caught the quaffle that Mia had thrown at him

'Definitely doesn't like you' Mia said with a grin

Sirius rolled his eyes but Mia saw the corners of his mouth twitch upwards 'You know what I mean'

'Well that's nice'

'Bit weird'

'Because people are actually talking to me?'

Mia earnt herself another eye roll 'You've been on the same team as him since third year and that must be the first word I've heard him say to you'

'Maybe he was admiring me from a far' Mia chuckled at her own suggestion, something that Sirius might've said and almost dropped the quaffle that Sirius had thrown her way, out of the corner of her eye she saw a fourth year boy, who she remembered as Charlie Weston a boy who had been infatuated with her for most of his second year, catch the snitch with his left hand, skill

'You better get ready for the chasers' Sirius said throwing Mia back the quaffle and zooming past her 'please give Marlene hell, I'll cry if she's on the team'

Mia nodded her head in agreement and chuckled as Sirius landed where James had just taken off from, Marlene Bagman was the year below them and a particularly active member of the unofficial Sirius Black fan club, you could say she was the president, and Mia was pretty sure she had no interest in quidditch beyond Sirius Black. True to her unspoken word Mia hurled some pretty up-tempo quaffles Marlene's way all of which she dropped, on the last one Mia's shoulder gave an almighty crack and pain seared through it, until that point she had forgotten about her and Sirius' almost collision and her surprise at Sirius' open niceness. Sirius was putting the beaters through their paces at the other end of the pitch on James' instruction so they could get to dinner on time. Mia managed to sling a few soft passes but was glad when James called everyone together and pulled her, Sirius and Vance over to a side.

'Right seekers wise what do we think?' James asked surveying his minions the captain badge gleaming proudly on his chest

'I saw Charlie Weston pull off a nice snatch' Mia observed

'Yeah me too' Sirius concurred

'Got over his crush?' James asked glancing at Mia 'Don't want any distractions' he didn't grin and the other three knew that quidditch was the only thing that James took seriously and possibly the only thing that kept him sane, Mia had seen the evidence of this when he had been banned from playing one match because him and Sirius had tried to put the Slytherin captain in a vanishing cabinet in the Defence classroom

'100 %'

'Right Weston's in, chasers?'

'Not Marlene' Sirius said immediately glancing at the brown haired girl who was inching closer and closer to their huddle and he visibly cringed

'Considering she didn't catch a thing I think your all clear Padfoot' James said smirking and clapping his friend on the back 'I was thinking that the third year Scott Davies was good, worth a gamble if he improves next year as well'

'You're the captain' Sirius said giving James a salute

James rolled his eyes 'Sirius what's your beater suggestion?'

Sirius shrugged 'none of them are as good as me _obviously_. None of them had all the components but I suppose Jamie Baker was best'

'Seriously? The fourth year?' James asked incredulously as they all looked at the tiny frame of the blonde haired boy

'He's got the accuracy to a T and I can work with him to get his power up, he can hit close range shots for the moment though'

'That's sorted then, Seeker is Weston, Chaser is Scott Davies and Baker as our beater' James wrote this all on a scrap of parchment he had summoned along with his quill then vanished them 'Okay guys First Practise is Wednesday' James had almost turned to the unruly rabble gathered to their right when someone spoke

'I can't do Wednesday' Vance piped up

'Pardon?' James said turning his whole body toward Vance, he wasn't one to take quidditch lightly and he didn't exactly have a soft spot for Vance in the first place vis-à-vis hexing in quidditch and James basically stealing the captaincy from him

'I can't do Wednesday' Vance repeated 'I have astronomy club'

'Well shame because that's when our practise slot is, pre-arranged with McGonagall and Madam Hooch. Unmoveable as it turns out, so either move your astronomy club meeting or forfeit your place on the team, because I will not have a keeper on _my _team who doesn't turn up to practises' James emphasised the word "my" as if to emphasise the fact that Vance didn't get captain

'You can't tell me what to do _Potter_' Vance said seething

'I'm not _telling_ you but I can threaten you with expulsion from the team because as it turns out I'm captain and what I say goes'

'I won't move astronomy and I won't forfeit my place' Vance was squaring off with James his fists in balls and a vein on his forehead pulsing with anger

'Look! We aren't going to beat the likes of the Slytherins acting like this' Mia felt herself almost yelling and the two boys looked at her shocked and James took a step away from Vance looking down at his feet almost embarrassed at his behaviour

James looked at her then his eyes moved quickly to Sirius who was pulling the most extraordinary face and jumping around with his arms tight to his sides 'Padfoot, why do you look like an absolute idiot?'

'I'm being what I ate. I'm a silly sausage'

There were literally no words….


End file.
